Discussion of Interviewees Responses to the Scenario (Ethics in the Machine Shop)

The Interviewees

In this report, I will refer to the persons I spoke with by their job description. Their backgrounds are for the most part easily inferred or unimportant. I have reported as much information as would not reveal the identity of the shop managers and technicians as many of their comments could result in negative backlash.

The Safety Officer at the MIT Safety Office

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection

The Shop Manager

The Graduate Student

The Safety Officer at the MIT Safety Office

The SO I spoke with was referred to me by another SO who said it was not his/her job to deal with hazardous waste if it wasn't solid. The SO I spoke with said it wasn't his job to deal with solid hazardous waste, he just did so because the other SO didn't know anything about it. I say this as a preface to the interview, because it represents a significant insight into the operations of that office.

I first asked the SO for MIT's policy on waste generated by the fifteen or so machine shops operated at MIT. He said that MIT has no policy or guidelines for dealing with the waste generated at MIT except where the use of the material is of great concern. He noted that whenever Beryllium is bought on a purchase order, a SO calls the buyer and asks where it will be used, by whom, for what purpose, and how will it be disposed of when they are done. This is the only material that is tracked the full time it is here at MIT. He said he occasionally gets phone calls about the disposal of large quantities of Magnesium and other potentially hazardous materials, but he has to deal with each on an individual basis because there are no guidelines and no policy to address these types of materials.

I then asked what materials it was legal to put into the trash and which were regulated. His response was surprising. He new which elements were illegal to put in the trash, but was unsure of most of the alloys I asked about. He specifically mentioned: Ni, Cd, Lb, Be, Mg, and Na. He was unsure of the quantities and made a blanket statement that not a single scrap can go into the trash. Specifically I asked about steel alloys which can have concentrations of heavy metals as high as 3%. He again was unsure and felt that these materials are probably okay to dispose of in the trash.

I then proceeded to show him the scenario and get his reactions. I first asked if he felt this was a reasonable scenario. His first response was, "Well that's a great thing for the shop manager to say. Really thinking about the problem." He didn't feel that the nickel alloy posed a great problem for the environment and that it should be thrown out. He said the greatest problem he sees with MIT is that the shop workers know how to manipulate the metal but not how to throw it away. He felt that if the shop managers really knew what to do with the metal then there wouldn't be a need for his job and the world would be a better place. He felt that the student should immediately call the Safety Office and ask a SO how to dispose of the waste. If a student called him, he would tell him to turn around and tell the shop manager that the Safety Office said it was okay to throw in the trash. He noticed another ethical concern that the student should take into consideration. The shop personnel have a right to know if something they feel is wrong really isn't bad. He felt that the shop manager might feel guilt about telling the student to throw away the material, but perhaps shouldn't because he is not breaking the law at all.

The last question I asked was, if the student does not get an adequate answer to his question from the Safety Office, where should the student turn? He immediately smiled and said that there wasn't a real need for the student to go anywhere but to the Safety Office. He then told me that in Massachusetts, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) handles this type of issue. I asked if he knew of a time when they had been called and he said no, not about a solid waste issue.

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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection

I began this interview by opening up the white pages and testing how easily it would be to have my questions answered. I first began in the blue section under Environmental Protection, Department of. I had no luck. Then a few lines down I found a special division for solid waste. I was sure I had it now, except there were five numbers to call. I decided that technical assistance sounded like the best department to start asking my questions.

The telephone operator (TO) who answered my call immediately asked if it was an emergency. I responded no, but I have a few questions. He then asked me to hold. After a few minutes he returned and I had an opportunity to ask him about a hypothetical disposal of some aluminum and some nickel alloy. His first response, was that the aluminum was not considered hazardous and so it may be thrown away. I then asked if there was some limit to the size and weight of the aluminum. He said that so long as the garbage men will take it away, I could throw any piece of aluminum away.

I then asked about the nickel alloy. He said he wasn't sure and that he'd try to find out and call me back. A few minutes later I received his phone call. He told me that the regulations on nickel are such that I would have to perform a chemical analysis of the alloy to determine how much of the nickel will dissolve in the acid. The requirement is quite stringent. The test piece would have to be placed in a concentrated solution of HCl (hydrochloric acid) and then let sit for at least 24 hours. After this time has elapsed, the solution would be tested to see if it contained any of the hazardous elements in concentrations greater than 5-10 ppm (parts per million). He guessed that most alloys including steel alloys would not pass this test however his office had never conducted the test on any alloys to determine if they are to be considered hazardous. I thanked him for his time and left still unsure if the nickel alloy was legal to dump or not.

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The Shop Manager View

I spoke with several shop managers and technicians and have formed a model of what they say in general and specific. I present their views here as a whole to protect their anonymity.

My first question of SM was if he felt that there had been wrong doing. He immediately said that there had been and it was on the part of the shop supervisor. As part of working in a student machine shop, it is the duty of the technicians and managers to educated the students about all the aspects of machining, not just the cutting, drilling, and forming, but the proper cleanup and respect for the shop area. Part of this process is the disposal of the chemicals used including the scraps. I was impressed with this answer and agreed that I felt that my machining experience since coming to MIT has been a good one.

I then asked SM if he knew what materials were illegal to dump into the trash. He didn't know. He tried not to throw away paint cans, gasoline cans, and other fire hazards, but was unaware of what else he shouldn't be throwing away. I asked if he had ever dealt with the safety office to dispose of any materials. He nodded and told me about the time when a professor was studying the friction characteristics of Beryllium. As soon as the order was made, the Safety Office was on the phone getting information, trying to reduce the order, and asking where it will be shipped. When it arrived the safety office was there with all sorts of monitoring devices and paraphernalia. They conducted their tests and when they were finished the Safety Office helped find a suitable waste disposal contractor. He felt that that was a positive experience.

I then asked what he would do if he had scraps of other exotic materials he needed to dispose of. He said that he usually threw away his scraps unless they were large enough to be used for another piece. He then showed me his scrap shelves filled with exotic metals like magnesium, silver, gold, platinum, titanium, gallium, and germanium. I was pretty impressed until he showed me his sodium collection. At that point I was a little concerned about the potential fire hazard created by the existence of such a room. The SM also showed me his rack of special fire extinguishers he used to put out metal fires. I asked him how much of these metals he throws away and he said it depends on the project, but that he had thrown away in excess of two pounds of magnesium before. I asked if he felt this was wrong or not and he replied that it wasn't legal, but it is easier than the hoops and red tape he would have to deal with to have it properly disposed of by a contractor.

The main barrier the SM saw with disposing of the hazardous metals was the cost. On occasion his shop is enlisted to produce a large volume of pieces on contract. This process produces a large volume of chips. In this case, he would recycle the chips and sell them to a scrap dealer. The problem with this is that it requires storage space and it is only financially beneficial if there is a large quantity of scraps.

I finally asked him about the scenario and his feelings about where the student should turn. He suggested going to another shop and asking another shop manger about what should be done. If the student isn't getting anywhere doing this, then the student should go to the Safety Office. If the student does not get satisfaction there, then the student should call OSHA or the EPA. He related one story about a student who called OSHA about a safety problem. The lathes that were in use in Tiny's shop were not equipped with a safety guard that is intended to protect the operator against being hurt by the chuck. The student was not satisfied by the answer of the shop manager and called OSHA. The consequences of the incident was that MIT was fined for not having the safety precaution and was forced to comply with the requirement. I asked how much the guards cost and he said about $2,000. That was roughly the size of his annual budget. He then took me out into the shop to observe how students were using the guards. All of the students I saw were not using the guards. He said it was a big waste of money. I asked what happened to the student and he says he didn't know, because he never came to his shop again.

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The Grad Student Perspective

I had a brief discussion of my paper with a current grad student in Mechanical Engineering. Some of his pertinent comments are found below:

He first said that this scenario would never happen. Grad students in Mechanical Engineering, who need to have things machined, and whom would do it themselves, would never question throwing anything away. In the lab he works in, the advisors had to plead with the lab group not to pour oil down the sink, not because it was illegal, but because it was clogging the sink. He also showed me the trash around his work area. In them, we found more than a pound of copper and brass and almost three pounds of steel. His opinion is that, unfortunately, many students don't care what happens to the waste they generate.